Tokyo: Being coveted by my wife, I just want to play games

October 7th, afternoon.

The office building of Tokyo Game News Network.

As usual, Mito Yohei sat in front of his computer desk with a cup of hot American coffee. Looking at the words "Fate/zero starts at 4 o'clock" on the computer screen, he clicked the back of his head helplessly.

"I'm really unlucky to be assigned such a dirty job right after joining the company."

Mito Yohei sighed helplessly.

He just joined the Tokyo Game News Network company at the end of September this year and is currently a game reviewer, or in other words, the kind of editor who rates games on game information apps and stabilizes website traffic.

To be honest, this job is both simple and difficult.

In the months when many blockbuster games are released, my work is relatively easy. If I come across a game I like, I play it and rate it. If I come across a game I don’t like, I don’t play it, but just play it randomly online and rate it randomly.

In short, during the peak gaming season, game reviewers like him don't need to do anything, and they don't even need to rate the games. Just by reposting some radical game reviews from Europe, America and China, he can cause users in the forum to argue with each other, thus maintaining the popularity of the APP.

But during the off-season, things become more troublesome.

With the release of new-generation handheld game consoles from various manufacturers, and major manufacturers such as Juyin and SATE entering the handheld game console field, this year is undoubtedly a big year for games.

Starting from "Sekiro" at the beginning of the year, to the subsequent hits such as "Fate", "Stardew Valley", "Dragon Age", "Monster Hunter", etc., it can be said that from early spring to summer vacation, players can play a masterpiece every month.

but.

Normally, with so many blockbusters concentrated in one year, the various companies would coordinate with each other to avoid the schedule. But this year is different. This year is a big year for games, but one of the reasons why this year is a big year for games is that the Hawaii Game Alliance wants to grab the market of NICO.

As a result, all the top games from major manufacturers were released in the first half of the year. After September, there were only a few new games on the market, which could not arouse any discussion.

Without discussion heat, the APP’s advertising space cannot be sold. If the advertising space cannot be sold, their company, Tokyo Game News Network, cannot make any money.

Being scolded by users is not a big problem.

If you can’t make money, that’s a big problem.

Therefore, usually in the off-season of games, Tokyo Game Express will also involve some areas with relatively overlapping users, such as the animation industry. What Mito Yohei is going to do today is to rate "Fate/zero", but it is not a serious rating, but a black money from NTsoft.

"No wonder Mr. Dongchuan was forced to leave. NTsoft has absolutely no sense of purpose in doing things."

Mito Yohei drank a sip of coffee helplessly because he had to do the work assigned by the leader. In addition to Stardew Valley, which is recognized by the industry as a super monster, Fate is also one of the super dark horses at the beginning of this year.

Without the support of animation, the sales of this game exceeded 7 million, directly raising the ceiling of Galgame to infinity. But this is just the beginning. With the launch of the "Fate" animation and the influence of Fuyukawa Tetsu himself, the sales of the "Fate" game directly broke through the 10 million mark!

Galgame with sales of tens of millions!

This data is so terrifying. To put it simply, even if you add up all the Galgames released on the market in the past year, the sales volume is not that high!

These statistics are extremely exaggerated. Some Galgame users even directly regard the day when "Fate" sales exceeded 10 million as the "Christmas" of the Galgame industry.

The player group is having fun, but as the saying goes, one family is happy while another is sad.

Because the "Fate" IP has become so popular, it has sparked heated discussions among almost all 2D users. Therefore, NTsoft has moved the "K-ON!" animation, which was originally scheduled to be released in the summer but conflicts with the "Fate/stay night" animation, to October in order to avoid the limelight.

in business.

Unless it is a situation like the Hawaii Gaming Alliance that had to compete with NICO for the market, most of the time it is not shameful to avoid a strong competitor. This is very common in the workplace and business circle.

No one expected that the sequel to "Fate", "Fate/zero", would come so soon. After NTsoft's delayed release, "K-ON!" will once again clash with it!

Now, practitioners in the entire industry are secretly watching the show. After all, NTsoft has already withdrawn once before. If it hangs up the "white flag" again this time, it would be impossible to say that it is not shameful at all.

not to mention.

Everyone in the industry knows that the "K-ON!" IP was created by Toru Fuyukawa and Sistar when he was still in NTsoft, and Toru Fuyukawa also owns the adaptation rights of this IP.

Now the situation is very delicate.

If the NTsoft version of K-ON! becomes popular and the audience has a preconceived notion that "NTsoft is the authentic version", it will be very difficult for Fuyukawa Tetsu to continue working on this IP in the future. And for NTsoft, they must make the "NTsoft version of K-ON!" popular and make the audience have this mentality.

However, NTsoft is not stupid. They did not force their way into Fate/zero, which has not yet been aired but has already attracted a lot of attention. Instead, they chose to use "pick-up marketing".

"They have to find the similarities between Fz and K-ON!, and then write soft articles to attract traffic. They also have to force the audience to feel that the two are of the same level and are both works by Toru Fuyukawa. Tsk, NTsoft has made a big bet this time."

Thinking of this, Mito Yohei smiled and shook his head helplessly.

If the quality of K-ON! is really good, then even if Toru Fuyukawa comes out to clarify, NTsoft will still be able to reap the rewards, because most viewers don’t care who made the work, but rather whether it’s good. But if the quality of K-ON! is not good and is resisted by fans of the original work, then Toru Fuyukawa will come out to make a fuss, and NTsoft’s reputation will explode.

Marketing by spoofing is always a risky move, but none of this has anything to do with Mito Yohei, who is only responsible for writing soft articles for money. However.

"It's really hard to find the similarities between Fz and K-ON!"

Mito Yohei drank his coffee, his eyes flickering with thoughtfulness. He hadn't watched the anime version of K-ON!, but he had played the interactive movie version shot by Fuyukawa Tetsu in the style of I Am Surrounded by Beautiful Women, and he had also watched Fate/stay night.

Without talking about style and only talking about subject matter, "K-ON!" and "Fz" have nothing in common.

On one side is a daily life animation about cute campus girls that is light-hearted yet a bit passionate; on the other side is an animation that is wrapped in a campus shell but is essentially a dark and cruel exploration of human nature.

"The only entry point is the school aspect. How about using a title like [Another school IP written by Fuyukawa Tetsu that is not inferior to Fate]? Although there will definitely be fans of the original work who will say things like [The author eats shit], it should at least give those newbies some positive impressions of the connection."

Thinking this in his mind, Mito Yohei continued to drink his coffee. Soon, as the countdown on the notebook page ended, his somewhat lazy waist gradually straightened up.